God Exists - Swami Sivananda

Even many educated men now say boldly that there is no God, that everything in this world goes on and evolves according to definite laws. Can law arise by itself? Can any law come out of nothing? Surely there must be an ultimate cause. That is God. That is the supreme Brahman or the Absolute.

---

As we explain everything within Nature by the law of cause and effect, so also Nature as a whole must be explained. It must have some cause. This cause must be different from the effect. It must be some supernatural entity, i.e., God.

Nature is not a mere chance collection of events, a mere jumble of accidents, but an orderly affair. The planets move regularly in their orbits, seeds grow into trees regularly, the seasons succeed each other in order. Now Nature cannot order itself. It requires the existence of an intelligent being, i.e., God, who is responsible for it. Even Einstein, the great scientist, was strongly convinced of the creation of the universe by a Supreme Intelligence.

--

Albeit everything is transitory in this world, people purchase enormous plots of land, build bungalows in various places and erect five-storied houses. They want to establish eternal life in this sense-universe. This shows that man is essentially immortal. In spite of the knowledge that everyone has to die, man thinks that he will live for ever and makes very grand arrangements to live here perpetually. Further, nobody wants death. Everybody wants to live, and takes treatment when ill, spending any amount. Hence, the essential nature of man should be eternal existence.

Even a fool thinks that he is wise. Everyone wants to show that he knows more than others. Nobody likes to be called a fool. Children tease their parents with various sorts of questions. The desire to know is ingrained in them. These indicate that our essential nature is knowledge.

When a man laughs, people seldom ask why he is laughing. On the other hand when a man cries, everybody asks why he is crying. This shows that our essential nature is bliss. No one wants misery, but everyone wants happiness, and all one.s activities in life are directed towards the acquisition of happiness. This also proves that our real nature is bliss. In deep sleep when there are no objects, senses or mind, we feel bliss; hence our essential nature should be bliss. That again is the reason why people ailing from painful maladies even desire to give up their bodies and thus get rid of the pain.

If everyone then is of the nature of existence-knowledge-bliss, there should be an all-pervading principle having these characteristics and different from the perishable, inert, pain-giving physical bodies. Therefore, Brahman or God, whose nature is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss(Sat-Chit-Ananda).

---

You always feel that, despite your possessions and all sorts of comforts, you are in want of something. There is no sense of fullness. Only if you add to yourself the all-full God, you will have fullness.

When you do an evil action, you are afraid. Your conscience pricks you. This also proves that God exists and witnesses all your thoughts and actions.

To define Brahman is to deny Brahman. The only adequate description of Brahman is a series of negatives. That is the reason why the sage Yajnavalkya declares in the .Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. about Brahman as neti, neti, or .not this., .not this.. This means that the residue left after sublating the names and forms is Brahman.

---

Sometimes you cannot tolerate the company of persons. You wish to remain alone. You go to a solitary place,.in a garden or on the banks of a river,.and enjoy the inner peace. This gives the clue that you are, in essence, an embodiment of peace, that you are alone and identical with Brahman.

---

Some people die when they are eighty years old; some die when they are in the womb; some die at twenty; some at forty. What is the cause for the variation? Who has fixed the span of life for all? This clearly proves that there is the theory of Karma, that there is one Omniscient Lord, who is the dispenser of the fruits of the actions of the Jivas, who fixes the span of life of the Jivas in accordance with their nature of Karma or actions, who knows the exact relation between Karmas and their fruits. As Karma is Jada or insentient, it certainly cannot dispense with the fruits of their actions.

---

Whatever you see is God. Whatever you hear is God. Whatever you taste is God. Whatever you smell is God. Whatever you feel is God. This is the manifested aspect. The physical body belongs to the Virat (cosmos). The astral body belongs to Hiranyagarbha (cosmic intelligence). The causal body belongs to Ishwara (Reality with its veiling power). Where is this .I. now?

---

Faith in God will force us to think of Him constantly and to meditate on Him and will eventually lead us on to God-realisation.

---

God will give us full security if we worship Him with unswerving devotion and undivided attention. He gives us the Yoga of discrimination to enable us to reach Him easily. Out of pure compassion for us He destroys the ignorance born darkness by the shining lamp of Wisdom. He speedily lifts us from the ocean of Samsara (birth and death), if we fix our minds on Him steadily with devotion and faith. We will cross over the three qualities and liberated from birth, death, old age and sorrow, and drink the nectar of immortality. By devotion and faith we will know Him in essence and will enter into His very Being. Through His Grace we will overcome all obstacles.

---

Eternal Happiness and Supreme Peace can be had only in God. That is the reason why sensible, intelligent, aspirants attempt to have God-realisation. God-realisation can bring an end to the ever-revolving wheel of births and deaths and bestow supreme happiness on mankind. This world is really a long, long dream. It is indeed a jugglery of Maya. The five senses delude you at every moment. Open your eyes. Learn to discriminate. Understand His mysteries. Feel His Presence everywhere as well as His nearness. He dwells in the chamber of your own heart. He is the silent witness of your mind. He is the Sutradhara or the holder of the string of your Prana. He is the womb for this world and the Vedas. He is the prompter of thought. Search Him inside your heart and obtain His Grace. Then alone you have lived your life well. Then alone you are a man. Then alone you are truly wise. Quick, quick. There is not a moment to waste, not a minute to delay. Now is the time, or never will it come.

---

God is Swayambhu, self-existent. He does not depend upon others for His existence. He is Swayam Prakasha or Swayam Jyoti, self-luminous. He does not want any light to reveal Him. He reveals Himself by His own light. God is Swatah Siddha, self-proved. He does not want any proof, because He is the basis for the act or process of proving. God is Paripoorna, self-contained. He contains everything in Himself. The entire universe is in Him. God is Swasamvedya. He knows by Himself.

Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are the three aspects of God. Brahma is the creative aspect; Vishnu is the preservative aspect; and Siva is the destructive aspect. There are three other aspects: Virat is the manifested aspect; Hiranyagarbha is the immanent aspect; and Ishwara is the causal aspect. Virat is the sum total of all physical bodies; Hiranyagarbha is the sum total of all minds, i.e., He is the Cosmic Mind; and Ishwara is the sum total of all causal bodies (Karana Sareera). Srishti (creation), Sthiti (preservation), Samhara (destruction), Tirodhana or Tirobhava (veiling), and Anugraha (grace) are the five kinds of activities of God.

---

This body is His moving temple. The sanctum sanctorum is the chamber of your own heart. Close your eyes. Withdraw your senses from the sensual objects. Search Him there with one-pointed mind, devotion and pure love. You will surely find Him. He is waiting there with outstretched arms to embrace you. If you cannot find Him there, you cannot find Him anywhere else.

God-realisation alone can put an end to the Samsaric wheel of birth and death with its concomitant evils such as birth, disease, death, sorrow, pain, etc. Eternal happiness can be had only in God. That is the reason why sages and saints, scriptures and Srutis make a very emphatic statement and lay great stress on the importance and necessity of God realisation. Bhakti or devotion can help one in the attainment of God-realisation. So cultivate Bhakti, come face to face with God, and taste the nectar of God-consciousness which alone is the summum bonum of human life and human endeavour. Purify the heart. Control the senses. Sing His Name. Feel His Presence everywhere. Repeat His Mantra. Meditate on His Form. realise Him. Rejoice in Him. Attain peace, bliss and immortality.

---

Your Majesty! In exactly the same manner the Lord is residing within everything. He is the indwelling Presence, the Self of all, the Light of all lights, the Power that maintains the universe. Yet one cannot see Him with one.s physical eyes. A vision is only a projection of one.s own mind before the eye of the mind. One can realise God intuitively and see Him with the eye of wisdom; but before that one has to churn the five sheaths, and the objects, and separate the butter, the Reality, from the, curd, the names and forms.

---

It is God and none but the one God, to realise whom one has to give up vanity, the feeling of doership, arrogance and pride; to realise Him one has to surrender oneself entirely to His will, which can be discerned through cultivation of purity, emotional maturity and intellectual conviction; to realise that God one has to efface oneself in toto and feel that one is a mere instrument of His will..

---
ARGUMENTS ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

The existence of Brahman is known on the ground of its being the Self of everyone. For everyone is conscious of the existence of his Self and never thinks .I am not.. If, the existence of the Self were not known, everyone would think .I am not.. And this Self of whose existence all are conscious is Brahman or God. It is difficult to define Brahman. But we will have to give a provisional definition. That is Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss Absolute).

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you are dead. You can never do so. You can never think that you will not exist (after death). You will imagine that your dead body is lying down and that you are witnessing the dead body. This clearly proves that you are always the witnessing subject (Sakshi, Drashta). There is an inherent feeling in everybody .I exist,. .Aham Asmi..

Every effect has a cause. This phenomenal world must therefore have a cause. It is an effect of Brahman, the original causeless cause (Parama Karanam). This is the cosmological way of proving.

You cannot think of a finite thing without thinking of something beyond. The mind is so framed that it cannot think of a finite object without thinking of Infinity. You cannot think of an effect without thinking of its cause. You cannot think of impurity, duality, disagreement, variety, mortality, etc., without thinking of purity, oneness, agreement, unity, immortality, etc. The possibility of the relative implies the reality of the Absolute. This is the psychological method of proving the existence of Brahman. Infinity belongs to the very essence of His Nature. Sat-Chit-Ananda is His very essence just as heat and light constitute the very essence of fire.

When you are in the darkness, when you are behind a veil, if anybody asks .who is there?. you will naturally answer .It is I.. Then after a second thought, after a moment, you will say .I am Mr. So and So.. This .I am Mr. So and So. is a mental Kalpana (imagination), is Adhyasa or false superimposition on account of Avidya (ignorance). At first you have expressed spontaneously your inherent feeling of existence, the big Infinite .I.. Nothing can resist this innate feeling of .Aham Brahmasmi..

Unless there exists one continuous principle equally connected with the past, the present, and the future or an absolutely unchangeable Self which cognizes everything, we are unable to account for remembrance, recognition and so on, which are subject to mental impressions on place, time and cause. The Self is distinct from and superior to ideas, because the ideas require an ultimate principle which unites and connects them, while the Self is itself the ultimate principle which renders the cognition of the ideas possible.

.Aham. means .I. in Sanskrit. .Idam. means .this.. When I refer to myself, I speak .Aham. and when I refer to you, I say .Idam.. When you talk to me words are reversed. My .Idam. becomes .Aham. and my .Aham. becomes .Idam. for you. Tables are turned over. There is only .Aham. everywhere, the one common consciousness. .Idam. is a mental creation, or false attribution or Adhyaropa (superimposition) just as a snake is superimposed on a rope. The snake is a Vivarta (illusory form) of the rope. .Idam. is a Vivarta of .Aham.

To break through the circle of cause and effect in this phenomenal world we must look for an existence which does not change (Nirvikara, Kutastha, Nirvikalpa, Achyuta, Avyaya) or depend upon another (Swatantra) and is always the same and likewise the cause or causeless cause (Parama Karan) of these changeable existences. This unchanging, independent, beginningless entity (Anadi Vastu) must be something which cannot be perceived by any sense (Atindriya, Adrishya) and must be without the attributes found in objects which are perceptible (Nirguna). Here every change ceases; here the mind can rest; here that faith may find root which we seek in vain among the fleeting things of the world.

Carefully analyze this little .I,. the lower self-arrogating, false personality which is the cause for all miseries, troubles and tribulations. The physical body is not the .I.. Even if the leg or hand is amputated still the .I. remains. It is made up of five elements. It is the resultant product of .Annam. or food. Hence it is styled as Annamaya Kosha.. It is full of parts. It has a beginning and an end. It is Vinashi or perishable. It is Jada or non-sentient or non-intelligent.

The sense is not the .I.. It is inert. It has a beginning and an end. It is the effect of Rajo Guna and Sattwa Guna. It is made up of Tanmatras (root elements of matter). Mind is not the .I.. There is no mind in sleep. Yet there is the feeling of continuity of consciousness. Mind is Jada (insentient). It has a beginning and an end. It is a bundle of changing ideas. It gropes in darkness. It sinks down in grief. It becomes like a block of wood in extreme fear. Prana also is not the .I.. It is an effect of Rajo Guna. It is insentient. It has a beginning and an end. You can suspend the breath and yet the continuity of consciousness remains.

The causal bodies which constitutes the Moola Ajnana (root of ignorance), and which is made up of subtle impressions is not the little .I.. It is insentient. It has a beginning and an end. When I say .I. I really feel .I am. or .I exist,. (Sat aspect). I understand or comprehend that .I am. (Chit aspect). .I feel blissful. (Ananda aspect). On careful analysis by introspection this little .I. dwindles into an airy nothing just as an onion is reduced to nothing when the different layers are peeled off. But we get at the core or essence the big Infinite .I,. Sat-Chit-Ananda Brahman, the substratum or background for all these appearances, many little .I.s.

Every form has its own Sat-Chit-Ananda. The form is different (Vyatireka), but the essence that is at the back is the same in all forms (Anvaya).

There are five Indriyas (organs that grasp) and five Vishayas (objects). Eye can see forms. Forms are made up of Agni-tattwa (fire principle). Eyes are also formed out of fire Tanmatra. So there is a relationship between eye and form. Eyes cannot hear sounds. Ear is made up of Shabda-tanmatra (sound element). Sound emanates from Akasa (ether). There is a relationship between ear and sound. Ear cannot see. All the five senses are insentient or non-intelligent. They borrow their light and power from Atma or pure Spirit which is at the back of these senses just as a cup of water, when exposed to the sun, borrows the heat from the sun.

In sleep there are no senses, no objects, no mind apparent and yet you experience peace and bliss. When there are no objects, wherefrom have you derived the bliss? The mind rests in Brahman during sleep and it is from Brahman this bliss is derived. Further during sleep when there are no other persons .I. alone exists.

Karma is Jada (non-intelligent). There must be a dispenser to allot the fruits for the actions of Jivas. The Karma theory only can wisely explain the variegated nature of the world (poor, rich, healthy, sickly persons, mighty intellectual giants, born idiots, infirm persons, born deaf and dumb persons, etc.). An overseer of works knows how much wages are to be given to various workers in the contract work according to the ability and nature of work turned out by the workers. Even so the Lord of the Universe knows the actions and motives of the Jivas and allots accordingly fruits for their actions.

You get exaltation and satisfaction when you do virtuous actions. You get alarmed and frightened when you do vicious actions. Why are you afraid? This indicates that there is a supreme Self behind your conscience who witnesses all your actions (Karmadhyaksha) and the activities of the mind also.

Om kena ishitam patati preshitam manah? By whom is the mind directed? (Kena Upanishad, Mantra 1)
The Manas (mind) is an organ of sensation and thought. It must be under the control of some one who uses this instrument. The Jiva or human soul is not the director of the mind because we see that ordinary men are swayed away ruthlessly by the mind. Therefore there must exist some other Supreme Being, who is the director of the mind. He is the Antaryamin, the Inner Ruler and Controller.

There is another way of proving the existence of Atma or Brahman. The eye is the Drik (perceiver); the object is the perceived (Drishya). The mind is the perceiver and the eye is the perceived. Atma is the perceiver and the mind with its modifications is the perceived. If a perceiver of the Atma is sought, the enquiry will end in what is known as a regressus ad infinitum (Anavastha Dosha). Therefore the Atma (witness of everything and of all minds) is self-existent, self-created, self-luminous, independent, immortal, unchanging, beyond time, space and causation. It is not seen by anything else. The objects are different but the perceiving eye is one. The Indriyas (senses) are different but the perceiving mind is one. Minds are different but the perceiving Atma is one. You find one behind many. Vichara (enquiry) is needed.

Brahman is not void. It is not blankness or emptiness. It is impossible for the mind to conceive of an absolute nothing. It is Paripoorna (full) because all desires melt there. You get supreme, eternal satisfaction (Parama Nitya Tripti). It is everything. When you become nothing by annihilating this false illusory .I. you get everything. You become everything (Paramam-apnoti; Brahma-eva-bhavati).

Faith in the laws of nature is faith in God. The whole world runs under definite, well-established laws. There is no such thing as chance or accident. God or Ishwara is Tatastha-lakshana (accidental attribute) of Brahman only. For the sake of pious worship of Bhaktas, the Nirguna (without attributes) Brahman simply appears as Saguna (with attributes) Brahman. In reality there is no such thing as Saguna Brahman. There is existence only. That is Reality. That is Truth.

An atheist says that there is no God. But that knower who knows the non-existence of God is Brahman.

A Sunyavadin says that there is only Sunya (void). But that knower who knows the Sunya is Brahman (God).

A desire arises in the mind. There is a Vritti (impression) now. This Vritti agitates your mind till you get satisfaction through enjoyment of the desired object. There is Shanti or peace or happiness after the enjoyment is over. Another desire arises. Now in the interval between the gratification of one desire and the manifestation of another desire there is pure bliss, because there is no mind then. It is at rest. You are in union with Brahman. That state of pure bliss between two desires is Brahman. If you can prolong that period of bliss through Sadhana by keeping up the idea of Brahman and by not allowing any other Vritti or desire to crop up, you will be in Samadhi (superconscious state). The period between one Vritti and another Vritti is the real Sandhi (juncture).

Who sees the defects in the Sun.whether it shines brightly or whether it is obscured by clouds? It is the eye. Who sees the defects in the eye whether there is cataract or not? It is the Buddhi (intellect). Who sees the defects in the Buddhi whether there is confusion or clarity? Who illuminates the Buddhi? It is Aham (infinite .I.). This .Aham. is Kutastha or Atma or Brahman, illuminator of everything.

Who illuminates the objects in the dream? It is Brahman. There is no other light there.

Suppose there is a big light at night. You stand at a distance. Something stands between you and the light as an obstruction and you cannot see the light. But you can see the objects clearly that are illuminated by the light. Though you cannot see the light directly, you clearly conclude that there must be a big light, through the perception of objects. Even so you see the world with its variegated coloured objects. There must be an illuminator behind this nature. That illuminator, the .Light of all Lights, Jyotishamapi tat jyoti of the Gita, is Brahman, the Adhisthana (support) for this illusory world.

When the mind runs from one object to another object, the state in the interval wherein there is no mind is Swarupa Sthiti (the natural state). That is Brahman.

The very idea of creation suggests that there must be a creator; the idea of matter suggests that there must be a Spirit. The very idea of changing phenomena suggests there must be an unchanging phenomenon. The very idea of a changing mind suggests that there must be an unchanging Sakshi (witness) and controller (Niyamaka) for the mind.

You say in daily life .My body,. .My Prana,. .My mind,. .My Indriya.. This clearly denotes that the Self or Atma is entirely different from body, mind, Prana and Indriyas. Mind and body are your servants or instruments. They are as much outside of you as these towels, chairs, cups, are. You are holding the body just as you hold a long walking stick in your hand.

There are two powerful instincts in men and animals. They are self-preservative and reproductive instincts. Hunger is a manifestation of the self-preservative instinct. The basis for the self-preservative instinct is the immortal nature of the soul. Owing to Bhranti (illusion), the Jiva or individual soul thinks that the body is Atma and eternal and the self-preservative instinct tries its level best to preserve the body for a long time (Abhinivesha) and perpetuate the body here. The idea of immortality is wrongly transferred to the body owing to illusion. Though there is death for the physical body, the Jiva imagines that he will live for ever here. The existence of the self-preservative instinct gives the clue to the existence of an Immortal Brahman (God).

The law of reincarnation is infallible. The soul of a man which survived after death in the previous life remembers, in the next life also through the force of memory (Samskara), of its existence even after its separation from the physical body. So there is an inherent feeling in men that they exist even after the death of the physical body. Existence is Brahman.

You had been a child playing in your mother.s lap. Then you grew up into a school-going boy. Then you became a sighing lover in adolescence. Then you reached adult manhood. Lastly you became a veteran with grey hairs. You have had a variety of experiences. There must be an unchanging Self as a Sakshi to witness these changing experiences. Otherwise these experiences are impossible. That unchanging Self is Brahman. It is the substratum for all these changing experiences of life. An invariable Self must link continuously the varying childhood, boyhood, manhood and old age.

When you search a thing in the dark in a room at night it is through the Prakasha (illumination) of Adhishtana-Chaitanya or Brahma-Chaitanya that you get at the thing by stretching the hands here and there in the room even in the absence of any kind of light. Brahman is self-luminous and Sarvaprakasha (illuminates everything). It illuminates the Buddhi, eye, sun and all objects.


---

The Lord Himself has assumed the forms of body, mind Prana or life, organs, cells, tissues, muscles, nerves, etc., through His illusory power, Maya, which is also known by the name Prakriti or Nature.

---

All the physiologists say that they have no knowledge of how living things first come into existence. Starling, an eminent physiologist, says: .Life is indefinable for biological science, as time and space are indefinable for the physical sciences. By this is meant that we cannot even approximately define life without the idea itself being explicit in our definition. Our business is, given living things, to study their phenomena..

Claude Bernard, who is regarded as the father of physiology says: Vital force directs phenomena which it does not produce; physical agencies produce in living things phenomena which they do not direct..

Vital force is Prana. It controls and governs the different systems of the body. This vital force itself derives its power from the Lord or the Indweller or the Inner Ruler.

The physiologists say: .We know only how urea is formed from the amino acids. We know the gross processes that are involved in its formation and the formation of saliva, semen, etc. from blood, but the actual formation by the living cells and the exact mechanism are still in the realm of speculation only.. They will know this only when they realise the Lord who gives force to the vital power or life and intelligence to the cells. 

---


NATURE OF REALITY

That something by possessing which there is nothing more advantageous to be possessed, whose bliss is greater than the bliss obtained by any other source, by knowing which there is no greater knowledge to be attained, should be understood as Brahman.

That something, after seeing which there is nothing more to be seen, after becoming which there is nothing more to become, after knowing which there remains nothing to be known, should be understood as Brahman.

That something which is all-pervading, around, above, below, which is Satchidananda (existence, knowledge and bliss), which is without a second, endless, eternal, one and one alone, should be understood as Brahman.

The everlasting, the one continuous experience-whole, which is attained by sublating what is not it, that should be regarded as Brahman.

Brahman is within and without. He is above and below. He is in front and behind. He is in all sides. He is everywhere, like the all-pervading ether. He is Chidakasa. The five attributes: Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), Bliss (Ananda), Eternal (Nitya), and Fullness (Paripoorna), express Brahman in the best possible manner. Meditate on these and realise Him.

Just as the light is the same in bulbs of different colours, even so the bodies and mental Bhavanas (attitudes) are different, but Atma is one in all beings.

Just as the sun, reflected in various pots of water, appears to be many, so also the Atman appears to be many when reflected through various minds in various bodies.

Just as fire blazes forth when the ash above it is removed, Brahman shines forth when the veil of ignorance, which conceals It, is removed. Just as butter is perceived when milk is converted into curd and churned, so also Brahman is perceived through the churning of meditation. Just as hunger, thirst, pain, taste, etc., have to be experienced, but cannot be seen by the fleshy eyes, even so Brahman has to be experienced through deep meditation and Samadhi. Just as the tiny bacilli that produce cholera, typhoid, etc. cannot be seen by the naked eye, but can be seen with the help of a microscope, so also Brahman cannot be seen by the physical eyes but can be seen through the eye of intuition.

He is formless (Nirakara), without Gunas (Nirguna), without any special characteristics (Nirvisesha), without parts (Nishkala), without limbs (Niravayava), without action (Nishkriya). He is eternal (Nitya), pure (Suddha), perfect (Siddha), free (Mukta).

There is a living, unchanging, eternal Consciousness that underlies all names and forms, and that holds all together. That is God or Brahman.

Brahman alone is real. Individual soul is identical with Brahman. Everything else is unreal. This is the fundamental tenet of Vedanta philosophy.

The Absolute baffles the mind of even the greatest scholar. It eludes the grasp of even the mightiest intellect. It is experienced as Pure Consciousness, where intellect dies, scholarship perishes and the entire being itself is completely lost in it. All is lost, and all is found.

God is very close to you. He abides in your heart. Closer is He than breathing, nearer than hands and feet. He is your very Self or Atma.

---


HOW TO ATTAIN GOD-REALISATION?

Develop discrimination between the real and the unreal. God alone is real. Everything else is unreal. Renounce all sensual pleasures, seeing the defects in them. They wear out the senses, cause diseases, restlessness of mind., etc. Equip yourself with the sixfold virtues (Shadsampat) of serenity (Sama), control of the senses (Dama), cessation from sensual enjoyments (Uparati), endurance (Titiksha), faith in God, scriptures, Guru and in one.s own self (Sraddha) and concentration of mind (Samadhana). Hear the Mahavakyas (the great sentences of the Upanishads) that speak of the identity of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. Reflect upon them and then practise intense meditation. You will attain Self-realisation.

Serve all, seeing God in all. Perform all your daily actions as worship of God. Give up the idea that you are the doer. Feel that God does everything and that you are only His instrument. Give up attachment to actions and their fruits.

Do Japa of His Holy Name. His Name is a great purifier. Sing His praises. Worship Him. Meditate upon His beautiful form. Surrender to His Will (Atmanivedan).

Do not identify yourself with the body, which is inert, impure, perishable and which is only a combination of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Always feel that you are the all-pervading, formless, pure, Satchidananda Atma. Assert .Aham Brahmasmi.. See the Self in all. 

Take Sattvic food. Keep company With the wise. Study Gita and other religious books daily. Eradicate all vices. Cultivate all virtues. Observe Ahimsa (Non-injury), Satyam (Truth), and Brahmacharya (Chastity).

Keep the body fit and energetic by practising daily some important Asanas, such as Sirshasana, Sarvangasana, Matsyasana, Paschimottanasana, Bhujangasana and Mayurasana, a few rounds of easy, comfortable Pranayama and light physical exercise such as long walk.

It is not very difficult to have Darshan (vision) of God, or to please Him. God is an ocean of mercy. He is a slave of His devotees. He ran with lightning speed to save Draupadi from the wicked hands of the Kauravas. He begged pardon of Prahlada for not coming to his rescue earlier. He caressed the dying bird, Jatayu, keeping him on His laps, and wiped off his dirt with the trusses of His hairs. He carried the palanquin of His devotee Tyagaraja and also water in a vessel for his ablution. He proudly bears, as an ornament, the scar left on His chest by the kick of Bhrigu. He wears the skulls of His devotees as a garland round His neck. The Lord Himself has admitted: .I am under the complete control of my Bhaktas..

Pray to Him fervently for His Grace. Be up and doing in spiritual Sadhana, Bhajana, etc. Never waste a single minute. Pray fervently like Prahlad. Sing His name like Radha. Weep in solitude like Mira on account of His separation. Do kirtan like Lord Gauranga. Sing Bhajan like Ram Prasad of Bengal. Dance in Divine ecstasy like Chaitanya Maha Prabhu and enter into Bhava Samadhi. Repeat His Name like Valmiki, Tukaram and Ramdas. He will certainly bless you with His beatific vision, Supreme Knowledge, and Eternal Bliss.

---

Just note the conversation that took place between Saunaka and Angiras. Saunaka, the great Grihastha questioned Angiras .Kasmin bhagavo vijnate sarvamidam vijnatam bhavati...What is that which being known all these become known?. Angiras replied, .It is Brahma Vidya, the Science of sciences, by knowing which the Immortal Brahman is realised.. By knowledge of Brahma Vidya or the Science of sciences you hear what cannot be heard, you perceive what cannot be perceived, you know what cannot be known. You think what cannot be thought of. Just as by the knowledge of a single nugget of gold all that is made of gold is known, the difference being only a name arising from speech, but the truth being that all is gold, just as by the knowledge of a single pair of nail-scissors all that is made of iron is known.all modifications being only a name based upon words, but the truth being that all is iron.thus, O Golmal, is that Brahma Vidya or the Science of sciences.

The basis for all the secular sciences is Brahma Vidya or Adhyatmic Science. If you know this supreme science through direct intuition, you will have knowledge of all other worldly sciences, just as you will have knowledge of articles made of clay if you have a knowledge of clay itself. You cannot learn this Science of sciences in any University. You will have to learn this from a Brahma-Srotri, Brahma-Nishtha Guru, after controlling your senses and the mind.

These worldly objects are ephemeral. They wear out the vigour of all senses. Even the longest life is very short. No man can be made permanently happy by wealth, sons and woman. Man weeps in old age. He is drowned in sorrow when he loses money, when his wife or son dies, when he develops incurable disease. Nachiketas was not tempted by the worldly gifts of Lord Yama. He persisted in attaining the eternal bliss of the Immortal Soul and got it through the instructions of Lord Yama. A passionate, ignorant man, who has neither discrimination nor dispassion, who is drowned in worldliness cannot have a clear conception of the Supreme Tattva.

Nature is not independent. She is the hand-maid of the Lord of Nature. Nature is His Shakti or illusory power. Just as clay is to the potter, so is Nature to the Lord. The Lord gazes at Prakriti or Nature. He is the Primum mobile. He sets the Prakriti in motion. Then the Prakriti starts Her activities. Just as heat is inseparable from the fire, so also Shakti is inseparable from the Lord (Shakta or possessor of Shakti). Just as the power of burning is inherent in fire, so also Shakti is inherent in the Lord.

God is quite just. He is the silent witness. This world runs in accordance with definite laws. There is order. Virtue brings its own reward; vice brings its own punishment. God neither punishes nor rewards any individual. Man reaps the fruits of his own actions. As he sows, so he reaps, The law of cause and effect operates. This law is inexorable.

Why God created this world? When did Karma begin? Why should there be ignorance at all? When did man take his first birth? How can ignorance come in the Atma who is of the nature of Satchidananda? Which is more powerful whether Prarabdha (destiny) or Purushartha (self-effort)? and many such other questions are Atiprasnas, transcendental questions. Such questions do not help in any way one.s progress in the spiritual path. The result is mere lingual warfare and beating about the bush with no substantial result. Words are finite. Language is imperfect. One can get a solution to such questions only when one transcends the three states and the three Gunas, and rests in one.s own essential Svarupa, through constant and protracted Nididhyasan and attains Dridhabhumi or Yogarudha (established in Yoga) state. The frail, finite intellect that is conditioned in time, space, causation cannot peep into the beyond. You will get answers for these questions when you get knowledge of the Self.

---


Golmal: If God is All-merciful, if He is an ocean of mercy, why should there be pain and disease in this world?

Ram: Pain is, in a way, a good thing in this world. It is an eye-opener. It is a blessing in disguise. It infuses mercy in your heart and turns your mind towards God. It develops your will-power or power of endurance. It forces you to find out the way of escape from the clutches of Maya or the thraldom of matter.

Golmal: Why should there be evil in this world? Can He not create a world with pure bliss only? Why should there be mixture of pleasure and pain? Does this not go against His Omnipotent nature?

Ram: This universe is a mixture of good and evil. This is a relative plane. You cannot expect pure, unalloyed happiness here. You can find pure bliss in your innermost Self or Brahman only. Evil is not a distinct entity. Good and evil are the obverse and reverse sides of the same coin. Evil exists to glorify good. What is evil at one time is good at another time. What is evil for one is good for another. A rogue is a saint of the future. If you keep him in the company of a saint he will become a veritable Mahatma. Have you not studied the lives of Ratnakar, Jagai and Madhai? They became very good saints when they came in contact with great souls. The body of a man is the result of good and evil actions. Therefore he should reap the fruits of his good and evil actions, viz., pleasure and pain.

---

The existence of Brahman is known on the ground of its being the Self of everyone, because everyone is conscious of the existence of his Self. There is an inherent feeling in everybody, .I exist.Aham Asmi.. Man never thinks, .I am not.. This self of whose existence all are conscious is Brahman.

---

You can never imagine of your annihilation. You can never think that you do not exist after the physical body is thrown away. This itself clearly proves that you are always the witnessing subject (Sakshi, Drashta).

---

Some people die when they are eighty years old; some die when they are in the womb; some die at twenty; some at forty. What is the cause for the variation? Who has fixed the span of life for all? This clearly proves that there is the theory of Karma, that there is one Omniscient Lord who is the Dispenser of the fruits of the actions of the Jivas, who fixed the span of the life of the Jivas in accordance with their nature of Karma or action, who knows the exact relation between Karmas and their fruits. As Karma is Jada or insentient, it certainly cannot dispense with the fruits of their actions.

---

Unless there exists one continuous principle equally connected with the past, present and future, or an absolutely unchangeable Self which cognizes everything, we are unable to account for remembrance, recognition and so on, which are subject to mental impression on place, time and cause. The Self is distinct from and superior to ideas, because the ideas require an ultimate principle which unites and connects them, while the Self is itself the ultimate Principle which renders the cognition of the ideas possible.

The Manas (mind) is an organ of sensation and thought. It must be under the control of some one who uses this instrument. The Jiva or human soul is not the director of the mind, because we see that ordinary men are swayed away ruthlessly by the mind. Therefore, there must exist some other Supreme Being, who is the Director of the mind. He is the Antaryamin, the inner Ruler and Controller.

---

Golmal: Can you explain the meaning of the Ekasloki of Sri Sankara?

Ram: In the day time what gives you light? Sun. 
At night when there is no sun, what gives you light? Moon, stars and lamps. 
When there are no sun, moon, stars and lamps what gives you light.? Eyes. 
What gives you .light. when the eyes are closed? Buddhi or intellect. 
Who finds out the defect in the intellect whether there is clarity or turbidity? Aham (I). That Aham is the Light of
lights or the eternal Soul or Atman or the Infinite.

Golmal: What can we infer from the study of deep sleep? The Vedantins talk much of deep sleep. What is the difference between sleep and Samadhi?

Ram: In sleep there are no senses, no objects, no mind and yet you experience the highest bliss without a concrete awareness. When there are no objects, wherefrom have you derived the bliss? The mind rests in Brahman during sleep, and it is from Brahman that bliss is derived. Further, during sleep when there are no other persons, .I. alone exists.
In sleep you experience Avidya-Avrita Sukha. There is a veil between you and the Self. You do not return to the waking state with intuitional knowledge, you are ignorant; whereas in Samadhi you get knowledge of the Self, you enjoy directly the eternal bliss of the Self as there is no veil. Your ignorance is destroyed in Samadhi.

Golmal: Give me a very simple, but very impressive proof for the existence of Soul.

Ram: You say in daily life, .my body,. .my Prana,. .my mind,. .my Indriya.. This clearly denotes that the Self or Atma is entirely different from body, mind, Prana and Indriyas. Mind and body are your servants or instruments. They areas much outside of you as these towels, chairs, cups are. You are holding the body just as you hold a long walking stick in your hand. You are the possessor or proprietor of this body. The body is your property or possession. The body, the senses, the mind, etc., are not the soul, but belong to it.

---

Upanishads clearly state that intellect or discursive reason is not adequate to grasp the Supreme. .Speech, with the mind, turns away unable to reach it.. .The eye cannot perceive it, nor can speech describe it, while the mind cannot reach there. We do not know how we can reach it.. .The great Spirit transcends the reason.. .That which one cannot think with the mind, but that by which they say the mind is made to think, know that alone to be the Brahman.. .It cannot be apprehended by word or eye.. .Through argumentation, it cannot be grasped.. .Much learning, genius, or knowledge of books cannot lead us to the Atman..

---

The Mundaka Upanishad finally sums up this trend of thought by saying that all the four Vedas and the six Vedangas are inferior knowledge, while superior knowledge is that by which the Imperishable is known. The Brihadaranyaka, therefore, advises us not to study too many books, as that is only a cause of fatigue, but to cultivate Prajna or intuition. Having spurned scholarship, the seeker after Brahman should become like a child. This reminds us of Christ.s teaching, .Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven..

---

The immediate preliminaries to Brahma-Jnana are self-control, quiescence, withdrawal into oneself, endurance, and concentration. As the Katha Upanishad says, the sinner, the sensual, the unstable and one who lacks concentration, cannot attain intuition.

---


No comments:

Post a Comment